Body & Brain

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Branches called dendrites extending from a nerve cell (green) receive messages from other neurons at tiny protrusions called dendritic spines. A faulty protein in the spines may be related to a wide range of mental disorders.

UC San Diego Health

ANCIENT POX This mummy was found in a crypt in Lithuania, along with a child mummy that held genetic remnants of variola virus, which causes the pustular rash disease, smallpox.

Kiril Cachovskij/Lithuanian Mummy Project, 2015

EXTRA EXTRA An extra chromosome can help suppress the effects of cancer mutations, new research suggests. The findings may help explain why people with Down syndrome, who have an extra copy of chromosome 21 in their cells, have low cancer rates.